Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

10,000 children killed or maimed during Yemen's long war: UN

Homeless children stand on the road from Khoukha to Taiz in Yemen Feb. 12, 2018.(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File) Homeless children stand on the road from Khoukha to Taiz in Yemen Feb. 12, 2018.(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)
Share
GENEVA -

More than 10,000 children in Yemen have been killed or injured in violence linked to years of war in the impoverished country, a spokesman for UNICEF said Tuesday.

The verified tally from the United Nations' reporting and monitoring operation provides what is surely an undercount of the real toll because many more child deaths and injuries go unrecorded, UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters. He said the new numbers amount to four children killed or maimed every day, a "shameful milestone" since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war in 2015.

The U.N. has long considered Yemen -- where war resumed in late 2014 after rebels took over the capital, Sanaa -- as home to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The country on the Arabian Peninsula faces the combined troubles of protracted conflict, economic devastation, and crumbling social and health services, as well as underfunded U.N. assistance programs.

More than four in five children require humanitarian assistance, which amounts to some 11 million kids, UNICEF says.

According to the U.N. figures, a total of 3,455 children were killed and more than 6,600 injured in the fighting in Yemen between March 15, 2015 and Sept. 30 this year.

Aside from the violence, Elder said many Yemenis are starving not because of a lack of food but from a lack of money to buy it.

"They are starving because adults continue to wage a war in which children are the biggest losers," he said, appealing for more funds to help the agency. "Yemen is the most difficult place in the world to be a child. And … it is getting worse."

Overall, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, or ACLED, has estimated that some 130,000 people have died in the war in Yemen.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Police say a toddler in Cambridge, Ont., who was reported missing early Monday morning, has since died.

A Toronto rapper who was charged in a fatal 2021 shooting has been released after a judge dismissed social media evidence in the case.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has provided new data on the number of employees who were found to have received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a tragic ending to the search for a six-year-old boy in northeastern Manitoba who had been missing since Wednesday.

Local Spotlight

Before influencers on social media, Canada’s Jeanne Beker was bringing the world of high fashion down to earth and as Calgary’s Glenbow Museum gets a major make-over, it will include a new exhibition showcasing the pop culture icon.

A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.

A Nova Scotian YouTuber has launched a mini-truck bookmobile.

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.